Mississippi Pool 5-5a Bass 10/22/04

I spent most of my favorite week for fishing on pool 5 and 5a looking for largemouth bass. As far as I’m concerned the 3rd week of October is as good as it gets. The fish are on the feed, the scenery is spectacular and I virtually have the water to myself. The big boats are gone; many have put away their fishing equipment in exchange for hunting gear. Boy, are they missing it! The water temperature has stabilized and the water is very clear. I know you lake guys are going to laugh but we have 3 to 4 foot visibility. The numbers are great and the big girls like the one in the photo are showing up regularly. She came flipping a tree on pool 5.

There are two strong patterns going on, and there is a common location. The major back channels with strong current and depth are the key. The patterns are deep wood and sand ledges. Most of the fish are coming high in he branches in deep wood. They are being caught by flipping a 4” Yum Mega Tube or on a swimming jig. The second pattern is finding sand breaks with current in the same area as the wood. The fish may be moving back and forth the feed and rest. Swimming a jig off the ledge has been the best presentation. When you find one fish expect of catch a bunch.

There are many ways to present a swimming jig but the most common are using a single tail grub with a constant retrieve or using a swimming chunk trailer in a hop-hop-drop presentation. The grub has a natural swimming action but when it’s stopped the combination falls rapidly head first. The swimming chunk doesn’t look as good swimming but it has slower horizontal gliding fall. Also, the chunk is forgiving as far as not turning on its side like an improperly balanced jig and single trail grub will. I make all of my own jigs but the Lethal Weapon is the best commercial one I have used. This week a ¼ oz. white jig and trailer with the hop-hop-drop technique has been on fire. Most of the fish are hitting on the drop and I suspect it looks like a dying shad. The fish in the picture came off a sand break on pool 5a. Thanks to all the people I tracked down to take these pictures for me.

If you are into big northern pike you need to be out now! They are on a rampage. Without a steal leader I’ve been donating lots of tackle to them. A total of two jerkbaits and two spinnerbaits this week. However, my luck was with me on this one. I didn’t measure her but from measuring some fish earlier I’m guessing she was around 36 inches. She came off of pool 5a on the swimming jig. What is interesting is when you get out of the current you catch northerns, if you’re in the current you catch bass. Just the opposite of what you might expect for this time of year.